Most German Interior Ministry staff after WWII were ex-Nazis

Many officials had been in the SS, some served under Himmler, study shows

By AP 4 November 2015, 9:08 pm

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In this 1938 file photo Heinrich Himmler, second right, chief of secret police, and Dr. Wilhelm Frick, right, and other leading members of the Nazi party march along Koenigliche Platz in Munich, southern Germany. (AP Photo/file)

BERLIN — A commission of historians examining the Nazi links of West Germany’s Interior Ministry says more than half of the staffers from 1949 to 1970 had belonged to the Nazi party.

In an interim report presented Wednesday, the commission said 54 percent of staffers during those years were former Nazi party members, and many had also been members of the SS or SA. Eight percent had served in the Nazi Interior Ministry — run by Wilhelm Frick, who was executed for war crimes, and later SS chief Heinrich Himmler.

Researcher Andreas Wirsching says when the study is finished in 2018, historians want to answer more questions like what those people did during the Nazi era, and how they affected post-war policies.

Several ministries have done similar studies, including foreign and finance.